- This is ASSOS Headquarters in Switzerland.
Although if you look, just over that way,
Italy is actually about 150 metres away.
The reason we're here is actually to pick up
four very special Speedfire time trial skin suits.
As seems we made the trip though, we thought it
would be a great opportunity to actually see how
they're made and then, also find out why they're made.
Because in answering that question, I think you're
gonna find out some really quite surprising things
about the brand.
(uptempo music)
There are few brands in cycling, I think,
that conjure up quite the same feelings that ASSOS do.
There's certainly an aura of mystique about the brand,
but the more I actually learn about the history of it,
the more I realise the impact that it and it's founder,
Toni Maier, have actually had.
Now this building here is just for sales and marketing,
so we're gonna grab a coffee and then,
look something a little bit more interesting,
no disrespect to sales and marketing, but you know.
Ooh, cake.
Production is just down the road.
(uptempo music)
Through the factory outlet store.
For avid fans, there are some absolute classics
lurking here and still up for grabs,
but our journey takes us upstairs.
Up here, we're gonna find out what got ASSOS started.
Ta-da, a bike and not just any bike,
but the world's first carbon fibre aerodynamic bike.
How many of you were expecting that?
Honestly?
Okay, so a bit of backstory now.
Maier, the founder was pretty much born
into the bike industry.
His grandfather, actually opened a bike shop
in 1890 so you can see that clearly the early
adoption of cycling and technology was in the blood.
Maier then went on to become the Swiss importer of
Shimano in the 70's and the owner of a small pro team.
But it was in discussion we a few other big names in Swiss
cycling that conversation began to turn to aerodynamics.
You see, as sports fans, they were already familiar
with the aerodynamics arms racing, skiing,
and in motor sport, but they recognised
very little had ever been done in cycling.
Until this, the result of Maier's time,
his resources his ingenuity, frankly
and also his ability to pull together the right people.
Because the carbon fibre had to be sourced from
the aerospace industry and the space industry, in fact,
which is not easy during the Cold War.
Then also his contacts in the aluminium world allowed
him to design the first ever aerodynamically profiled rim.
Unfortunately, though despite the fact that this
bike performed well in the wind tunnel, they realised
that as soon as they put a rider on it, that actually,
that was the main source of drag.
So, firstly they tuned the position, hence this
quite incredible saddle to bar drop you see here,
and then Maier also turned his attention to the clothing,
because wool isn't very aerodynamic.
Who has ever seen a fast sheep.
So, Maier spoke to his friends in the downhill ski
racing world who just adopted a space-age polyester
fabric called Lycra.
The skin suit was then born as was the Lycra short, very
quickly adopted by the cycling world.
In fact, it was a couple years, 10 out of 19 teams
in the Tour de France were not only using ASSOS
shorts but actually bought ASSOS shorts.
Fast forward, then a casual 40 years and we get to this,
the phenomenal skin suit, designed in collaboration
with the Swiss cycling team for the 2016 Olympics.
A skin suit exactly like this used by Fabian Cancellara,
of course to win that time trial.
Now, it's inarguable that this is a direct descent
of those skin suits from the 70's and all of these
custom made ones are do so right here in this building.
So, I think we should go and have a look and see
just how they're made.
(uptempo music)
Step one starts, or can start, if your name is
Fabian Cancellara, with the fitting process.
Now, I'm lucky enough to actually be receiving
the same treatment, perhaps because they noticed
my minuscule biceps might need some additional tailoring,
but anyway, Fabiana, here is the person responsible
for all the measuring and tailoring.
She's fitted many of the world's top riders,
collecting their key measurements that will ensure
that the skin suit is as aero as possible.
No wrinkles, no flapping fabric.
- So, in this case we have to do a little bit
to the shorts.
- Take in the legs, oh no.
- Yes, maybe two sizes.
- So, what do we do with those measurements then,
well we actually start to make a garment
and that first step is here.
It's like Aladdin's cave, not just for an ASSOS
fan, but for any cycling kit fanatics.
This is the cutting room and you can see over there,
there is a stash of material, in fact, let's have a look.
We can't get too close because ASSOS actually create
their own fabrics in collaboration with their
suppliers and so if we get close,
we'll probably be giving away industry secrets,
but you'll recognise, I'm sure, some familiars.
So, that's the waterproof fabric of sturmPrinz there,
then over here, we've got the quite recognisable
insulation from the bonKa jacket.
But then here, this, is for us.
This is our aerodynamic fabric,
so it's like a 3-D woven fabric.
There's quite a texture on that,
and that's for it's aerodynamic properties.
So, with our fabric, we then take it out
and we put it over here on the cutting table.
It gets spread out and then a rough cut is done before,
over here, you can see, for me frankly terrifying bandsaw.
There we go, look at that.
Ah, frankly, you could lose a finger.
So, all the individual pieces that make up a piece
of clothing get cut there.
You can do a pile up to 40 high but if you get any more
than that, then you start to lose the quality.
You'll notice that this isn't a particularly big
cutting room for a brand the size of ASSOS,
and that's 'cause most of the manufacturing's actually
done over in Bulgaria.
What happens here are the smaller runs, so the club kit,
the custom kit, the MC's kit, the GCN's kit,
and also the prototyping, which explains
why that huge stash of every material that ASSOS make.
Then, I said it's an Aladdin's cave, if that's
not enough, this, for me, really floats my boat.
This is the ASSOS archive, right, so every piece
of ASSOS clothing is stored in here.
Come and have a look.
This is a gem that I found earlier on.
Here we go, right.
This is one of my particular favourites.
It is the airblock tights in red, yeah.
I think the time is ready for,
oh these are the short ones, these are the knickers.
Red tights, about to stage a comeback.
Pose there.
(cheery music)
With our freshly cut bits of material,
we then go here to the sublimation room.
It's not exactly a big trip, about five metres or so,
but in here, is a process that I have
completely taken for granted.
Now, Nicoletta there in the background
is marking up our cycling kit.
She's been with ASSOS for 28 years, in fact.
And what she's effectively gonna go, is turn a plain
white piece of material into the colourful
cycling kit that we know and love.
Like I say, it's a process that I've completely
taken for granted, but it actually revolutionised
pro cycling, and it was invented
by Toni Maier, here at ASSOS.
It ushered in a change from those really simple,
blocky retro-jerseys to really complex jerseys,
so without sublimation you wouldn't have
La Vie Claire jersey.
You wouldn't have the Mapei jersey,
and you wouldn't have the GCN jersey.
So, what happens is our plain white material then gets
placed over a transfer, you can see it's the mirror
image of the GCN kit, then it goes on this table
and this machine here heats it up to 205 degrees
centigrade and a pressure of eight bar,
squashes it down for 45 seconds
and the end result is almost magic.
Quite breathtaking in fact.
(futuristic music)
Now, you'll notice something from before,
which is we've actually been sublimating
the white bits of material and the shorts are black,
so you can sublimate those.
Instead, what Nicoletta is doing is
actually applying transfers.
You see the GCN logo is going on the shorts
right now and this machine is a slightly lower temperature,
143 degrees centigrade and slightly lower pressure,
just five bar and in fact slightly less time,
just 10 seconds.
Okay, so we had to wait for it to go cold,
then now, it's going back in just for a final
little bit of time, three seconds.
Let me give you a little bit more ASSOS trivia
before we go any further.
You've just seen the logo being applied,
so apparently there's quite an interesting
story behind this.
So, Toni Maier, who wanted a logo, so he went to a design
agency in Zurich, he wanted something that was Swiss,
that had the ASSOS A and that conveyed Swiss precision.
So, this is what they gave him, but then after they sold
it to him for a thousand francs,
they tried to buy it back off him for 10,000 francs
a week later because it turned out Swiss Air
actually wanted it and Maier obviously said no,
so here we go.
The ASSOS logo, not the Swiss Air logo.
From transfers, we're just gonna pop upstairs
to the sewing areas.
Now rather than one person sewing all the component
parts together, different people are responsible
for different sections, so firstly, our freshly
sublimated upper section is sewn together,
and then the zip is put in.
Looks like a funky bit of kit in a minute.
Of course, needs a zip before it has the shorts
attached and that is this lady over here.
Bonjourno.
Grazie.
Well, I've never seen that before, an elastic zip.
Then we've got our shorts,
the fabric has the leg grippers bonded on.
(tempo music)
Very important moment now,
the marriage of shorts and jersey.
Are we ready?
We're ready.
Now I hope you didn't think that we wouldn't
have a chamois to sit on, because yes,
even super aero skin suits get a comfortable chamois.
This is the ASSOS S-7 insert.
Look at that.
One exceedingly fast,
very slippery speedfire suit.
I say it's fast, obviously no one at GCN's gonna
make it go that quick.
Not a retro yellow Fugu jacket, nor red Airblock
bibtights, but four GCN branded Speedfire skin suits.
Oh yeah, now, what can we do with these?
Actually, before you start thinking about that,
we have actually got one last appointment that
we've got to get, so I need to jump in the car.
Not that one.
This one.
Now, I have spent all day at ASSOS, but there is
still one person that I've been dying to meet,
and that one person is this man here, Andrea Zamboni.
- Hey Simon.
- Hey, alright, now some of you may recognise Andrea
already but for those of you that don't,
Andrea, can you do the pose?
- I can try if I can do again.
- There you go, look at that, it is ASSOS Man.
Amazing, it genuinely, you've been the face of
the brand for what, like 12 years now,
but you were keen to stress to me,
you're not actually a model, you're just a bike rider,
and a pharmacist by trade, right?
- Absolutely, I'm just a sports man, so I'm not a model.
Yeah, I just ride it like you.
- Can you give me any tips on how
I can be like ASSOS Man?
- Well, it seems pretty good.
About six packs?
- I don't have a six pack.
- Okay.
- You're in good shape, 'cause you're not just a cyclist,
you're also a tri-athlete, right?
You just happen to be the world's age group
Iron Man champion.
- Yeah, twice, 2004 and 2011.
- Clearly a talented man, yeah, Andrea, thank you
so much coming to see me.
- No, but you have to do the--
- Oh yeah, sorry one more, yeah, of course.
- This.
- This one, how's that?
- Like me.
Yeah, okay, little bit more because you know the camera.
- You need to see the shorts.
- Exactly and now, six pack, please.
It's perfect, we have the new face.
- Okay, right, well thank you so much, Andrea.
Do make sure you subscribe to GCN.
- Okay, just two hours, stay two hours like this
and then we can do our break.
- Okay. - Alright.
- Okay, thank you.
- Do make sure you subscribe to GCN.
To do that just click on the globe and if you want
to see some more videos, if you just click
down there, you get to see how to dress
for the mountains or if you click down there,
you get to see how to ride in hot weather.
It's seriously, can I un-tense?
Can I relax?
- Ah, no, not yet.